Item of interest
Project ZERO founder Erwin to address Oaklawn Rotary
Christie Erwin, founder and executive director of Project Zero, will be the guest speaker for Oaklawn Rotary Club’s regular virtual meeting at noon Monday.
Project Zero promotes adoption through the foster care system with the ultimate goal of bringing the number of waiting children to zero, the club said in a news release.
“Using carefully planned events, films, speeches and other tools, it raises awareness of the need for adoptive families, builds hope and relationships with waiting youth; and connects waiting children with the right
‘forever families’ through connection activities and one-onone interaction. It collaborates with the Arkansas Department of Children and Family Services and with additional partners like
Oaklawn Rotary to host events like Oaklawn Rotary’s adoption picnic, held last October,” the release said.
“Erwin’s deep love for children led her and her husband Jeff to become foster parents in 1993.
Since then, they have fostered more than 50 children,” it said.
Erwin is a 2009 Congressional Coalition on Adoption “Angel in Adoption” award winner. She represented Arkansas as the American Mother of the Year in 2016. She chaired the Pulaski County Adoption Coalition for four years, co-coordinated the Pulaski County Heart Gallery, and founded Children of Arkansas Loved for a Lifetime, or The CALL. The Erwins have six children ranging in age from 9 to 30, including two who were added to the family through adoption, two daughters-in-law, one son-in-law, and two grandchildren.